Fishing lures having various mechanisms which may be manipulated to select one of two modes of operation are well known in the art. In one such mode of operation the lure will remain on or near the surface of the water when trolling and in the other mode of operation the lure will dive below the surface. Such fishing lures fall into two distinct catagories of structure. The first catagory of structure includes single piece construction of the body of the lure so that to effect one of the two modes of operation, the hook and fishing line must be attached to specific places on the body of the lure. With this type construction, when one wishes to change the mode of operation the fishing line and hook must be removed and reattached. An example of this type of fishing lure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,604 which issued Apr. 16, 1957 to Sleight.
The other catagory of fishing lures includes lures having bodies that are composed of two or more parts which are held together by various combinations of springs, pins, washers, and screws or clips. Typical of this category of fishing lures is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,482,309 which issued Sept. 20, 1949 to Wilson. Wilson discloses a fishing lure having a two part body wherein one part has an axially positioned pin rigidly attached thereto and projecting into a cavity that is axially formed in the other part. A spring is arranged within the cavity to urge the pin more deeply into the cavity. The end of the pin has a vertical slot which engages a vertically disposed rigid wire within the cavity. This arrangement of the slot and vertical wire keep the two pieces of the body in the desired alignment. The two pieces may be momentarily spread apart, against the action of the spring, and one part rotated 180 degrees with respect to the other, and the slot of the pin reseated with the vertical wire. Such structures add greatly to the cost of manufacture of the lure and detract from its reliability due to the complexity and number of interacting parts.
What is needed is a fishing lure that is capable of easily being switched between a plurality of modes of operation yet is simple and easily manufactured at relatively low cost.